Mbilli's promoter claims referee may have been influenced in Canelo fight

Canelo Alvarez regained the WBC super middleweight world title by unanimously defeating Christian Mbilli in Riyadh.

In the eighth round, Mbilli's last-minute attack was disrupted when referee Hector Afu deducted a point from him for a blow to the back of the head. The penalty came after Canelo signaled to the referee while returning to the ring following a blow from his opponent.

Mbilli's promoter, Camille Estephan, said the fight was close and congratulated Canelo. Estephan said the referee may have been influenced in his decision to deduct that point, and added that he could not understand what the referee was thinking. Estephan also said that Christian Mbilli has many big fights ahead of him.

Canelo returned to boxing with this victory after losing to Terence Crawford about a year ago, a fight that cost him all of his world titles. Mbilli became the full WBC champion after Crawford left the division. It was his first professional defeat. In an Instagram post, Mbilli wrote that it had been a bad night, that he would learn from the experience, and that he wanted to come back stronger.